Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?

Were the colonists trying to distance themselves from everything British/European? Was soccer not as popular yet? How did other sports take root in the "states", and it take so long for soccer to catch on?

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by TFS4E on 2/9/13 at 11:57 am to WarSlamEagle)

I understand that but it's questionable that foot+ball games were invented 2500 BC, so why didn't games like that come to the colonies and develop rules/adopt rules in the 1800s? Were people more worried about slavery/states rights/impending civil war type drama?

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by 6pack on 2/9/13 at 1:57 pm to TFS4E)

Because the modern rules weren't put into place until 1861 and the US was already well established by then. The reason why football is so popular world wide is that the English monarchy pushed English ideals, traditions & sports to new colonies in the late 1800's; where US pushed US colonies & territory's around the world to create their own values. Hence baseball not popular around the world. US pushed democracy and England pushed the English monarchy.

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by BleedPurpleGold on 2/9/13 at 2:07 pm to TFS4E)

A variation that was supposedly pretty similar to the modern day game was outlawed by one of the English monarchs during the middle ages because English citizens were getting too violent around the game. I guess you could call that the precursor to hooliganism. I always found that very interesting.

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by ohiovol on 2/9/13 at 2:55 pm to 6pack)

quote:Because the modern rules weren't put into place until 1861 and the US was already well established by then. The reason why football is so popular world wide is that the English monarchy pushed English ideals, traditions & sports to new colonies in the late 1800's; where US pushed US colonies & territory's around the world to create their own values. Hence baseball not popular around the world. US pushed democracy and England pushed the English monarchy.

Anfield RoadMississippi St. FanLiverpool FanMember since May 20121020 posts

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by Anfield Road on 2/9/13 at 3:16 pm to ohiovol)

quote:You seriously think that's why soccer is popular?

I think it's a legitimate hypothesis. If you look at baseball, for instance, the countries where baseball is most popular are the countries that were under the US's sphere of influence (Latin America, Japan). When soccer spread in popularity, the Brits ruled or had a sphere of influence over most of the world.

ETA: IMO, The US would be a soccer nation if we had become independent in the 20th century.

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by TheIrishFro on 2/9/13 at 4:01 pm to Anfield Road)

Baseball took off in Japan when they became an industrialized country. They changed their whole culture to "modernize" themselves and compete with the world. They copied what other countries were doing and Baseball was big in the US at the time so they picked it up.

Soccer wasn't exactly crazy popular until after the second industrial revolution (late 1800's). Before then, it was played by upper class while in school. (Rugby is actually a name of a school, just to give you an idea how these sports began). With the industrial revolution, the lower classes were in very cramped housing, worked very long hours, but for the first time in history had actual time off. Before in an agricultural society, they were constantly working on a small farm. With now crowded neighborhoods, people had more interactions with each other and during the down time began to entertain themselves by playing and watching soccer, an easy sport to play due to its low costs.

re: Why didn't soccer follow the Europeans to the new colonies?(Posted by ohiovol on 2/10/13 at 7:54 am to TheIrishFro)

quote:Baseball took off in Japan when they became an industrialized country. They changed their whole culture to "modernize" themselves and compete with the world. They copied what other countries were doing and Baseball was big in the US at the time so they picked it up.

Soccer wasn't exactly crazy popular until after the second industrial revolution (late 1800's). Before then, it was played by upper class while in school. (Rugby is actually a name of a school, just to give you an idea how these sports began). With the industrial revolution, the lower classes were in very cramped housing, worked very long hours, but for the first time in history had actual time off. Before in an agricultural society, they were constantly working on a small farm. With now crowded neighborhoods, people had more interactions with each other and during the down time began to entertain themselves by playing and watching soccer, an easy sport to play due to its low costs.